Nutrition & Lifestyle
Overview
Nutrition and Lifestyle is the newest research division within The George Institute, and was established primarily as a result of the growing recognition of the importance of nutrition and other major lifestyle risk factors to chronic disease and injury. The main foci of the Division centre around the areas of obesity, tobacco and alcohol, which account for a substantial component of the global burden of disease and disability. In particular, much of the divisional activity is undertaken in lower and middle-income countries of the Asia-Pacific Region, home to one-third of the global population. Much of the region is undergoing enormous social-demographic, economic and nutritional upheavals and, as a result, are experiencing epidemics of obesity and type-2 diabetes.
Currently, the majority of the Division’s epidemiological studies are observational, aimed at reliably describing the nature of the associations between major components of lifestyle with chronic disease and injury. The Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration (APCSC) and the Obesity in Asia Collaboration (OAC) are the Division’s two major studies that are unique, and invaluable, sources of such information. In the furture, subsequent evidence from these studies will be used to form the basis for the rationale, design and implementation of intervention studies in the fields of obesity, diabetes and smoking prevention.
On-going Projects
Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration
The Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration - APCSC is the leading study of our Division and is an individual participant meta-analysis of 44 studies within the region. The study is designed to provide the most reliable evidence concerning the associations of risk factors with cardiovascular disease. We have a large program of work concerned with cardiovascular outcomes, which has already led to over 20 publications and dozens of presentations, and will continue to do so in the near future. The collaboration has been recently expanded to look at cancer outcomes.
Obesity in Asia Collaboration
The Obesity in Asia Collaboration was initiated to provide reliable evidence concerning the relationships between anthropometrical markers of adiposity with cardiovascular risk factors within, and across, ethnic groups. To date, researchers from 12 countries in the region have contributed datasets with information on different measures of adiposity and CVD risk factors on over 170,000 individuals to this Collaboration. In addition, these data will be combined with data from the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration - APCSC, to provide the most reliable evidence concerning the association of adiposity with CVD risk factors across ethnic groups. A further aim of this Collaboration is to facilitate the development of ethnically appropriate BMI cut-points and aid in the development of intervention strategies for obesity-related disorders.
Future Directions
In the next few years, we hope to strengthen our ties with our Asian collaborators, particularly in China. Our aim is to instigate a series of obesity and smoking prevention studies in China. In Australia we will be contributing to the development of the '45 and Up' cohort study of 250,000 people in New South Wales.
New Projects
Obesity and its impact on the success of In vitro Fertilisation (IVF) An often overlooked, but significant, consequence of obesity is its role in infertility. Observational studies have shown that women who are obese (defined as a body mass index >30kg/m2) are substantially less likely to become pregnant compared to women who are of "normal" size (BMI 20-25kg/m2) and are more likely to require more in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycles to become pregnant.
The proposed study will provide the first randomised controlled trial evidence about the effect on fertility and metabolic parameters of a weight loss program in obese women undertaking in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The trial will test whether a 12 week weight loss intervention that incorporates dietary, exercise, educational and psychological factors, can reduce the number of IVF cycles undertaken on average to achieve a pregnancy. If this intervention was shown to be successful the expected benefits would not only include a reduction in the financial burden of fertility treatment, but weight loss prior to pregnancy would also be expected to have long-term beneficial effects on metabolic, obstetric and perinatal outcomes.